Kevin Durant is unlikely to play until the NBA Finals should the Warriors make it that far, a source tells Monte Poole of NBC Sports. Durant returning at any point during the postseason remains in question.
Durant won’t make the trip to Portland for Game 3 and 4. Instead, he will stay behind to work with the team’s medical staff. Golden State announced today that Durant has shown progress as he recovers from a strained calf, but he is not ready to participate in on-court activity.
The Warriors were hoping Durant would be able to return during the Western Conference Finals so that he could get re-acclimated with the team before a possible NBA Finals appearance.
DeMarcus Cousins has progressed to on-court activity, per the team. He’s not quite ready for live action, but his status appears more favorable than Durant’s at this time.
Both players are expected to be re-evaluated in a week, according to the Warriors.
As expected, Warriors forward Kevin Durant will miss Game Two of the Western Conference Finals against the Trail Blazers. While the team has yet to provide official confirmation Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports reports (via Twitter) that Durant won’t play due to his calf strain.
We’d heard on Tuesday that KD was unlikely to play in either of the first two games of the series, and a subsequent report suggested that Golden State had yet to establish a real timeline for his return. Before Game 1, head coach Steve Kerr told reporters that Durant “hasn’t even stepped on the floor yet” and “still has pain.”
While the Warriors would certainly like to get Durant back on the court, they looked good without him in Game One, taking an early lead on Portland. It will be interesting to see whether Durant’s return timetable hinges at least in part on how the rest of the series plays out. For instance, if the Warriors take a 2-0 or 3-0 lead over the Blazers, it would make sense to be a little more patient with his recovery.
Durant’s status for Game Three in Portland on Saturday is not yet known.
While the Sixers and Celtics suffered disappointing losses in the Eastern Conference Semifinals and face uncertain futures, both teams can at least fall back on the fact that they’re still loaded with draft assets. Philadelphia and Boston are two of only three NBA teams – the Hawks are the other – that possess at least four picks in the 2019 NBA draft.
As our full 2019 draft order shows, there are five other teams that more than two selections in this year’s draft. On the other end of the spectrum, nine teams own just one pick in 2018, while two teams – the Nuggets and Rockets – don’t have any selections.
To present a clearer picture of which teams are most – and least – stocked with picks for the 2019 NBA draft, we’ve rounded up all 60 picks by team in the space below. Let’s dive in…
A report earlier in the day indicated Durant would miss at least Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals on Tuesday with his calf strain. Durant was injured during Game 5 of the conference semifinals against Houston.
Kerr said Durant hadn’t “even stepped on the floor” yet, so any speculation about when he’ll return is pointless.
“We’ve tried to remain somewhat vague because the injury is really sort of open-ended in terms of how long he’s going to need to recover. But I think in doing so people have gotten the idea that he’s going to come back and be Willis Reed or something,” Kerr said. “He hasn’t even stepped on the floor yet, he still has pain. There’s time ahead of him on the rehab process.”
Golden State defeated Houston on the road Saturday without Durant to wrap up that series. Now, the Warriors are faced with the possibility of playing without Durant for much, if not all, of the conference finals against Portland. The Trail Blazers are banged up as well, as they’ve advanced through the playoffs without starting center Jusuf Nurkic. Key reserve Rodney Hood suffered a bone bruise on his knee Sunday in Game 7 against Denver.
Cousins partially tore his left quadriceps muscle in Game 2 of the first round against the Clippers. There has been growing optimism that he’d back at some point during the conference finals but Kerr downplayed that possibility.
“He hasn’t had any live stuff on the court yet, so he’s not that close either,” Kerr said. “Hopefully another week goes by and things start to get better and now we have a better prognosis. At this point we’re getting ready for this series without both of them.”
The Warriors will have to open the Western Conference Finals against the Trail Blazers without their leading postseason scorer, according to Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com (Twitter link).
A source tells Shelburne that Kevin Durant will miss at least Game 1 of the series on Tuesday. The star forward, who is battling a calf strain, won’t be re-evaluated until Thursday, so he’s also considered “unlikely” to play in Game 2, which is scheduled for that night, per Shelburne.
Durant’s injury isn’t expected to be a long-term ailment, so there’s an expectation that he’ll be able to return to the court at some point during this series. Still, if he’s unable to suit up for the first two games, it’ll be a huge opportunity for the Blazers to try to steal a game in Oakland before heading back to the Moda Center.
Of course, the Warriors showed in Game 6 of the Western Semifinals against Houston that they’re still a force to be reckoned with even without Durant in their lineup. Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson combined for 60 points in that game and Andre Iguodala had five steals and five 3-pointers as Golden State eliminated the Rockets on the road.
After a pair of dramatic Game Sevens on Sunday, the matchups for this year’s NBA Conference Finals are set. The Warriors will face the Trail Blazers in the West, while the Bucks and Raptors will square off in the East.
While the Warriors’ presence in 2019’s final four is no surprise, the teams joining them there historically haven’t made a ton of deep postseason runs.
The Blazers, led by a backcourt duo of Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum, have made the playoffs for six straight years, but this is the first time this group has advanced to the Western Finals, and the first time any Portland team has made it that far since 2000. The last time the Blazers appeared in the Finals was in 1992, when Clyde Drexler‘s squad fell to Michael Jordan‘s Bulls. The franchise hasn’t won a title since 1977.
Like Portland, the Bucks haven’t appeared in the Eastern Finals in nearly two decades. In fact, coming into these playoffs, Milwaukee hadn’t won a single postseason series since 2001, when the club fell in the Eastern Finals to Philadelphia. The Bucks last appeared in the NBA Finals in 1974 and won their last – and only – championship in 1971.
While those title droughts are lengthy, Portland and Milwaukee can at least say they’ve won a championship. That’s not the case for the Raptors, who have never even appeared in the NBA Finals since entering the league in 1995. Toronto appeared in the Eastern Finals once before, in 2016, but has never gotten over the hump and represented the conference in the NBA Finals.
The Warriors, who have won three of the last four NBA titles, and the Bucks, who won an NBA-best 60 games and led the league in net rating this season, will enter the Conference Finals as the favorites. But it would be a mistake to write off the Blazers or the Raptors, who are battle-tested in this postseason after dispatching tough opponents in seven-game series. Kevin Durant‘s calf remains a question mark for Golden State, while Toronto’s veterans have significantly more playoff experience than the Bucks’ roster.
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Warriors coach Steve Kerr regrets not playing his bench more in the team’s series against Houston, Mark Medina of The Mercury News writes.“I probably should’ve used them earlier,” Kerr said. Regardless, the Warriors wound up winning the series, with Kevon Looney (14 points) and Shaun Livingston (11 points) giving key performances off the bench.
Despite the rumor mill cranking out the notion that Kevin Durant is headed elsewhere this summer, there is still a sense in Warriors‘ circles that Durant may stay in the Bay Area, writes Sam Amick of The Athletic.
Per Mark Medina of The Mercury News, the dislocated left middle finger of Warriors sharpshooting point guard Stephen Curryis still causing a lot of pain, and Curry and the medical staff of Golden State are still figuring out different ways to make the situation (i.e. splint, buddy tape) more manageable as the postseason moves forward.
Warriors center DeMarcus Cousins could return to action during the Western Conference finals, Marc Stein of The New York Times tweets.
Cousins suffered a partially torn quad muscle in the Warriors’ opening-round series against the Clippers on April 15th.
Initially, Cousins was ruled out indefinitely and many people anticipated he would have to sit out the remainder of the postseason. But he said earlier this week he’s hopeful of playing again during Golden State’s drive for a third consecutive championship.
“For me, my goal is I ain’t planning on sitting,” Cousins said. “I don’t know the reality of it. But for me, that is not what I’m planning on doing. … It’s definitely some type of bad movie. But I think it will have a very nice ending. Just wait for it.”
Cousins’ injury occurred in a non-contact situation after he made a steal. The injury did not require surgery and he’s made steady progress during his rehab. If he doesn’t have any setbacks, he could give the club a major boost inside with his scoring and rebounding. It’s still unknown how much time Kevin Durant will miss due to a calf strain suffered in Game 5 against Houston.
Cousins spent a year rehabbing from a torn left Achilles tendon he suffered while playing for the Pelicans. He made his Warriors debut on January 18th.
He could also give his free agent stock a boost if he returns and plays well. He’ll be on the open market once again this offseason.
The Rockets have no plans to hit the restart button after their Game 6 flop at home against the Warriors. Owner Tilman Fertitta is intent on improving the roster to help the core group get over the hump in future playoffs, Tim MacMahon of ESPN reports.
“I’m very fortunate to have the starting five that I have, but if we can make this team better, we’re going to make this team better,” Fertitta said. “That’s just a fact. I have a great team. I love all five of my starting five, but it’s my job to make sure that we put the best team that we can put on the court next year.”
It’s one thing to say that upgrades are forthcoming. It’s another thing to pull that off when the team already has major salary cap issues. The combined salaries of James Harden, Chris Paul, Clint Capela, Eric Gordon and P.J. Tucker alone put Houston over the projected cap of $109MM for next season.
Harden isn’t going anywhere, so unless the Rockets could somehow unload Paul’s contract — he’s owed a whopping $124MM over the next three years — they’re not going to gain significant cap relief in a trade. The Rockets do have nine trade exceptions they can utilize but none are worth more than $3.62MM.
Houston’s bench is bound to look different because virtually all of its reserves become free agents or have non-guaranteed contracts for next season. The only exception is veteran big man Nene, who can exercise a $3,825,360 player option.
Both of their draft picks this June were traded away in previous deals, with the first-rounder being conveyed to the Cavaliers and the second-rounder going to the Knicks.
The only other major asset Houston will have at its disposal is the $5.7MM mid-level exception for a taxpaying team. Perhaps the Rockets can entice a quality player to sign for below-market value in order to join a contending team.
Otherwise, GM Daryl Morey will have his work cut out for him to create a deeper and more productive bench. Fertitta remains optimistic the Rockets will be champions in the near future.
“I can promise you, we’re going to win some championships with James Harden, because we are not going to sit here,” he said. “We will go to battle every year. We’re going to have a strong offseason, and we’re going to do whatever we need to do to be a better team. We are not going to sit on our hands, I can promise you that.”